


tired.

by Machetonim



Category: Oxenfree (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:15:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24504505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Machetonim/pseuds/Machetonim
Summary: "I mean, does it really matter what happened? Either way, you all die, and it's your fault.""No," she sobs, and the radio crackles with life.
Relationships: Alex & Jonas (Oxenfree)
Kudos: 19





	tired.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi i rewrote this because i hated the first version deal with it

"I mean, does it really matter what happened? Either way, done is done."

"I hate you." Alex grits her teeth. It's exhausting.

"No. No, you don't." And he's right. They know all that she fears in the world, and they say the same words like a broken record, as if one day, to someone, it might finally make sense. "Just give up, A **nna**. Your plan won't work -- it never does." Jonas carefully lifts every loose hair and ties it up with a wristband. "Aren't you tired?"

"tired," alex echoes.

She is, she _really fucking is,_ but she can hear static in Jonas's voice, and her name isn't Anna.

He turns her head to look at him. Before, his glowing red eyes would make hers light up like a burning Christmas tree, but now she just stares. Things like this don't affect her anymore; she's hollowed herself to it.

But as empty as she is, she isn't done here yet. She just saw her best friend die, and she needs to get to Catbird Station.

"You can't break me. You never will." She says, her voice a little stronger than before. She wills for anger to pierce through her flesh and into her bones, fill her up, fill her up, but Jonas's cheek presses into hers from behind and she deflates again.

"You can have Michael forever. It's already over for you anyway. Just walk through the door and stay with us awhile."

She shakes her head.

"Are you really gonna leave me behind?" Alex hears Michael's voice and crumbles a bit, leans back a little more. She can see auburn-brown in the corner of her eye, and hair tickles her cheek.

Water wets her shoulder, soaks through ~~his~~ her jacket into her shirt. She knows what's behind her, knows what'll happen if she turns around and looks.

She can't -- she **won't**.

_She does._

The island goes to bits around her.

Blackness all around them.

Clarissa whispers in her ear. "Statistics show that if you get divorced once, you're probably gonna get divorced again."

Suddenly, there's a spark. Orange and yellow and all the colors at once. But it's just a spark.

"Go to hell," Alex replies. She doesn't mean it.

Clarissa cries fire in response.

"I mean, does it really matter what happened? Either way, done is done." Jonas takes a drag from an unlit cigarette in between his fingers.

He blows smoke onto her face and she chokes.

"I mean, does it really matter what happened? Either way, done is done."

No. No, it doesn't matter. Because at the end of the day, Ren is dead, and Alex sees his hair stick to his forehead and can't help but think of someone else. Can't help but remember another body that lay before her feet the same way because she's a horrible friend, and Ren deserved so much better. _So much better._

"Just give up, A **nna**. Your plan won't work -- it never does."

God, she _knows._ Don't they know she knows that? Of course, Alex knows, but she has nothing else _to do._ She can't do anything but act out Margret's plan, over and over again.

It _has_ to work because if it doesn't, there's nothing else left.

jonas's eyes dim, then close as his body drops to the ground with a thud. alex almost laughs because this mess isn't even hers, and she's still picking up the pieces.

"I mean, does it really matter what happened? Either way, done is done."

She doesn't even bother saying anything this time. She just lets Jonas do all the talking. They'll just infest them anyway, infest them like lice, like-- like--

_You are dolls. Would never hurt you._

"Just give up, A **nna**. Your plan won't work-- it never does." Jonas says, through her ears and into the void. His voice sounds sweet as honey, but the static is sharp and hungry, and he can't hide that even if he wanted to.

He ties her hair up though it wasn't undone, and he feels soft. _it's a trick, it's a trick,_ her brain whispers, _they're going to hurt you._

But her eyes only flutter when cold water stings her skin and achingly familiar brown flashes behind her eyes. Hair tickles her cheek, her body is betraying her, and she sees the blue blue blue sun reflecting against the water. She won't, she won't look, she

always looks

They just left Main Street and are walking past Discovery Cliffs. As her feet crunch against the ground beneath her, Alex expects Jonas to start talking nonsense until his voice blurs into Michael's, but it doesn't happen. Instead, Alex walks a few feet further than she's supposed to before the... the time wave and realizes she's gone too far.

And she can't hear Jonas's footsteps behind her anymore.

She turns around suddenly, and he's not there. She's left on this empty island, all alone.

Not a single person hears the red streetlights shatter.

"I mean, does it really matter what happened? Either way, you all die, and it's your fault."

"No," she sobs, and the radio crackles. "Michael, please."

She wants to-

She wants--

Jonas always looked straight through her. Now he just seems lonely. "Does it really matter what happened? Either way, done is done."

Alex hums. But it's not really about Ren anymore, is it?

Jonas breathes hard through his nose, and blood trails from his clenched fists down to his white knuckles. The lamp flickers and Alex can see shadows cast on the walls.

He hiccups softly, barely audible, and there's nothing near them for miles. There's no bridge ferry, no walls, and no flickering lamp, just space full of cigarette smoke that no one is choking on. Stars blink on and off in the sunless red sky. Alex looks down at her feet and sees silhouettes cast on the ocean floor.

Jonas's eyes are still fueled with red, but he sniffles, and suddenly seems so much more human than possible. Than her.

his voice doesn't sting her ears like it used to. "i'm so tired," he cries, and alex echoes his words.

She is not Anna, her best friend is dead, and her plan will never work.

Ice sloshes in her lungs as she cradles Jonas, and she's left on this island all alone.

the abyss sighs through the radio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why do I always find mistakes after I post?


End file.
